Commission – General
I wish to start today by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting. On behalf of the Australian Human Rights Commission, I pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Commission – General
First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Ngunnawal people, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.
Commission – General
I would like to begin by acknowledging the Kaurna peoples on whose land we meet this evening. I also thank Katrina Power for her warm welcome to country.
Commission – General
I would like to acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respects to their elders past and present.
Commission – General
Torture and various forms of terrorism have been practiced throughout history, though never on the scale we are now confronted with. The first visual records of police interrogation were discovered in a four thousand year old tomb in ancient Egypt. Since the pharaohs there have been many refinements in methods of inducing physical pain and gathering intelligence, most notably during the Spanish Inquisition, but more recently in the modern totalitarian state.
Rights and Freedoms
In keeping with the focus of this agenda item on effective functioning of human rights mechanisms and national institutions I propose at the outset to briefly list some of the key areas with which the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission has been involved over the past year. A more detailed account of those activities will be circulated. So here is an overview:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I begin by paying my respects to the Noongar peoples, the traditional owners of the land where we gather today. I pay my respects to your elders, to the ancestors and to those who have come before us.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
With respect and gratitude I acknowledge that we have been allowed to sit on the lands of the Gadigal peoples of the Eora Nation, and I thank the them for privilege allowing us to do so. Thank you also to Michael West for your welcome today.
Business and Human Rights
Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have required very quick action by governments. But those responses have also involved significant limitations on people’s rights and freedoms, especially freedom of movement, and implemented through executive power often with limited parliamentary involvement.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I begin by paying my respects to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, the traditional owners of the land where we meet today, and I pay my respects to your elders, to your ancestors and to those who have come before us.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and National Race Discrimination Commissioner, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Good afternoon, I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Noongar people, the traditional owners and custodians of the land where we are gathered today, and pay my respects to their elders. I’d also like to acknowledge my distinguished fellow speakers. My presentation today is focused on customary law. I will refer to Aboriginal customary law, though the points that I will make are equally relevant to Torres Strait Islanders and to their distinct systems of law and governance.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
The position of Social Justice Commissioner was created in 1993 in response to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and HREOC"s National Inquiry into Racist Violence. It was created to ensure an ongoing, national monitoring agency for the human rights of Indigenous peoples.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
I would like to acknowledge the Kaurna people, the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting, and to honour their children. I thank them for the welcome they have extended to delegates of this conference.
Disability Rights
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the launch of the report of the national inquiry into the human rights of people with mental illness. This report is the result of extensive research; public hearings in all States and Territories; and oral evidence and written submissions from over 1300 witnesses. I have been extremely fortunate to have the assistance of two commissioners with a long standing interest in the area of mental health - Dame Margaret Guilfoyle and Mr David Hall.
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